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'Rare Earth' author to deliver lectures, Jan 9-11

Posted December 21, 2006; 04:52 p.m.

by Ruth Stevens

Peter Ward, co-author of the bestselling book "Rare Earth: Why
Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe," will deliver a series of
lectures at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, Jan. 9-11, in McCosh 50.

The talks, rescheduled from Nov. 28-30, are titled "The Undesigned
Universe." Ward is expected to argue that while bacterial life may be
widespread in the universe, conditions for complex forms of life are
actually hostile.

Ward, a paleontologist and professor of biology and earth and space
sciences at the University of Washington-Seattle, published "Rare
Earth" in 2000 with Donald Brownlee. He has appeared in public debates
with proponents of intelligent design. In his Princeton address, he
will explain how scientific evidence points to a finite age for life in
the cosmos and why this evidence is incompatible with the theory of
intelligent design.

The three individual lectures are titled: "Designs on Life," Tuesday;
"Designing a Habitable Solar System," Wednesday; and "The Construction
of the Cosmos," Thursday.